Bad Wolf
by ravarath
Summary: As the TARDIS disappears, Rose reflects on the influence of the Bad Wolf and how it led her to this point. Post-Journey's End. Rose/10.5.


_I take the words. I scatter them, in time and space. A message...to lead myself here._

* * *

If there was one thing Rose Tyler had learned during her travels with the Doctor, it was that there's no such thing as a coincidence. Coincidences were strange and usually meaningless occurrences to the casual observer. To an individual like the Doctor, they were clues, warnings to be heeded and remembered.

No one taught her that better than the Bad Wolf had.

But while the Bad Wolf had been omniscient, Rose's understanding of such things was all too human in limit.

Because she'd followed the words, trailed after them like Hansel and Gretel tracing breadcrumbs through a midnight forest. And it had led her to this godforsaken beach. Twice, in fact.

The sand was wet beneath her knees, seeping through the cloth of her pants and chilling her skin. Waves lapped noisily at the shoreline before receding, only to return a few moments later. Dårlig Ulv-Stranden, Bad Wolf Bay. Under any other circumstances, she might have found the lonely, beautiful spot to be peaceful. But as fate would have it, all this place ever did was break her heart.

She was acutely aware of the man standing beside her. He was completely still, but his nervousness was practically palpable in the frosty air. Several times, she heard him begin to speak, only to trail off after a pause. They'd shared a kiss and he'd held her hand. But those things were eclipsed by the abrupt departure of the TARDIS, swept away by the fading sounds of the engines.

So was this it, was this her ultimate fate? To always be left behind, stranded in a universe that was never quite home? That thought made her heart ache, a feeling she'd become all to familiar with in the last few years.

"Rose." His voice was soft, tentative.

She raised her head after a long minute. "Yeah," she murmured softly, sadly. "I know." He offered a hand, and Rose took it gratefully.

Jackie had kept her back turned to them, tactful for a change. "Your father's on his way," she said casually as her daughter and the Doctor began to make their way towards her. "But it'll be a few hours at least." Her eyes glanced down at Rose's sodden clothes. "Best get movin' then. There's a village just over that ridge." She slipped her cell phone back into a pocket, giving the Doctor a halfhearted glare as she began to walk. "If you hadn't saved the universe and all that, I'd have given that other you a right slap for droppin' us off here of all places. Bloody back of beyond, this is."

He smiled at that, but Jackie could see that the humor in it didn't quite reach his eyes. The walk to the nearby village wouldn't be too long, half an hour if they walked briskly.

As they left the beach, Rose glanced surreptitiously at the man holding her hand. Only the Doctor could manage to both leave and stay with her simultaneously. Because the Time Lord was right: this half-human Doctor was the same man she'd crossed stars and foiled invasions with. But that didn't stop her heart from shuddering with sorrow, didn't make their parting any easier.

She didn't have words to offer, and was glad the Metacrisis Doctor didn't press her for any. Instead, he was uncharacteristically quiet, content to interlace their fingers and match her pace as they left Bad Wolf Bay. A part of her knew she ought to say something, to reassure this Doctor who was bound to be every bit as torn and confused (if not more so) as she was. But it was hard, her tongue feeling leaden and unresponsive. Instead, Rose gripped his hand tighter, hoping to convey through touch what she lacked in words.

The Doctor seemed to relax a bit at that gesture, and he offered her a shy, tiny smile. "We'll manage, Rose Tyler," he whispered.

It was only later, after they'd settled into the one motel the sleepy little village had that Rose thought to thank him.

He'd looked up from his curious perusal of the newspapers on the table, mildly baffled. "For what?"

She bit her lip, hands fiddling with the bedsheets. "For staying. For...being stranded with me."

"Oh, Rose." The Doctor's expression softened, and he made his way over to her side. "That's where you're completely wrong." He knelt in front of her, his hands finding hers. "I ought to be thanking _you_."

"But you're stuck here, too. No TARDIS, no traveling, no sonic."

The Doctor's eyes shifted for a second to the side, towards the chair where he had discarded his jacket. She was incorrect about the no sonic part, but this didn't seem like the moment to mention it. And if Donna had been right about the piece of TARDIS coral, perhaps he could rectify the first two points as well. But for the moment, he ignored those possibilities. "But I found you. I finally, _finally_ found my way back to you."

Rose blinked, feeling tears begin to well up. "But you're here and...out there. How does that even make sense?"

"Special Time Lord skill, I suppose." Or curse, he thought with some bitterness. Because wasn't that always the case: to be alone yet not quite so.

"Dårlig Ulv-Stranden." Rose said sadly, pulling at his hands until the Doctor was seated beside her on the bed.

"Sorry?"

"The name: Dårlig Ulv-Stranden. Bad Wolf Bay." She turned her face to look towards the window. The beach wasn't visible from their motel, but she could see its smooth sands and lonesome vista clearly in her mind. "I thought about it so much...those years we were apart." Her voice was low, hesitant.

Initially, Rose had viewed the words with suspicion. After all, what child didn't grow up with fairy tales and a big bad wolf doing evil in the shadows? So as those two words followed her and her first Doctor, Rose was instinctively wary. But all that changed aboard the Game Station.

They were words of power, the calling card of a mysterious entity that beckoned her to follow. Even now Rose did not entirely understand it, and the Doctor had been reluctant to explain it fully. All she knew, all she understood was that it wanted to help her, offered her the ability to achieve her most selfless desires.

_I want you safe. My Doctor._

So she followed that Bad Wolf, trusting it to return her to the Doctor.

"I always thought it was funny," she whispered, letting him draw her down to lay on the bed. "Too close to be a coincidence." She remembered telling him the local name for the beach, how he'd mistaken it for Dalek. How she'd longed for even the tiniest touch from his ghostly image. "Because that's me in a nutshell, eh? Stranded here...all because of the Daleks."

The Doctor sighed, shifting so she could rest her head on his shoulder. "Still," he murmured. "Better with two, right?"

Faced with that, Rose couldn't help but smile a bit. "Yeah."

He reached down, tugging the blanket over their legs. "Get some rest, Rose Tyler. All that dimension jumping will wear anyone down." His tone was light, but the Doctor felt exhaustion tug at his own awareness. It was a new feeling, one he seldom experienced as a full Time Lord. But, he supposed it went hand in hand with his recent dose of humanity.

Even so, the Doctor found it difficult to sink into slumber. He felt far too keyed up, his mind rapidly processing and cataloging the many differences between this human body and a Time Lord's. And Rose's words seemed in hang in the air around them.

_Daleks_.

His greatest enemy, undying and resilient. They killed, they destroyed and they took and took and he always, _always_ lost. They didn't feel remorse, were never burdened with sorrow, never mourned or shed a tear. He, on the other hand, carried the guilt and the heartbreak through each day, each year, and each regeneration. He carried his burdens across the stars and through time, a wanderer without a home to go back to.

Rose felt his muscles tense, heard his breath quicken slightly. She reached a hand up to cup at his cheek, and was surprised to feel him tremble. "Doctor?"

He kept his eyes shut, forcing himself to relax. "I'm fine. It's nothing-"

Her lips brushed softly against his, the brief heat and slide of skin enough to ease his thoughts. He pressed forward, threading fingers through the silky strands of her hair and pulling them closer together. This time, the kiss was languid and gentle, nothing like the impulsive, passionate embrace on the beach. He wanted to slowly learn the feel of her mouth, relish the taste of their shared breaths.

They parted after a minute, both of them gasping for oxygen. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, burying his face in the crook of her neck. "I meant what I said, on the beach," the Doctor said urgently, emotion making his voice thick. "I love you. Only you. Always you."

As her cheek nuzzled his, Rose suddenly felt clarity illuminate her tumultuous thoughts. Perhaps she'd been wrong to think Bad Wolf would always return her to her Time Lord.

Bad Wolf knew her. It knew time and space, and saw the universes with a scope unmatched by any mortal. She was foolish to think it would grant her wishes like a genie, because it didn't work like that.

Bad Wolf knew she would want to return, to save her Doctor. But it also knew she wished for happiness, knew she wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of her days with the man who'd changed her life.

It was no coincidence that they'd come full circle, ending up at Dårlig Ulv-Stranden again. That much she was sure. But had it always intended to lead her here, to this universe and to this half-human Doctor? Was this the Bad Wolf's parting gift to her: a life with him that would otherwise have been impossible?

Part of her was terrified by the sheer power behind it all. Part of her wanted answers.

But right now, the larger part of her knew that this opportunity, this Doctor holding her...it was a blessing. "I love you, too," she said softly into his ear, a tear catching on her eyelashes.

She would mourn the Time Lord she'd lost; they both would. He, too, was here as a result of the Daleks, every bit as stranded as she was. But they'd found each other.

The touch of his hand, the taste of his lips on hers, the sound of his voice in her ear: it filled her heart to bursting. "I'm glad you're here," Rose breathed, as he fit their hands together. "My Doctor."

And he pressed a fervent kiss to her forehead in return. "My precious girl."

* * *

_**A/N: This was originally supposed to be a drabble (somehow ended up at 4 pages). I got the idea while reading through the Doctor Who Wikia article on Bad Wolf Bay. It has a background info section that discusses how the name 'Bad Wolf Bay' isn't really an accurate translation of Dårlig Ulv-Stranden; however, it is appropriate in that it mentions Daleks and that it alludes to how Rose is stranded in the alternate universe.**_

_**This is un-beta'd, so sorry for any mistakes! Also, the final line is taken from a song from the Doctor Who soundtrack: "Love Don't Roam."  
**_


End file.
